An ecstatic Mr. Mphats'oe said Lets'eng's future looks bright, and that they were seriously contemplating expanding the mine by establishing a new plant. If the idea succeeds that would mean more job creation for Basotho, he said.

A press release from the mine quotes the Chief Executive Officer Mr. Keith Whitelock as saying  each of the four stones was of the highest quality of white stone.

'Lets'eng is unique because it regularly produces very large high quality stones, the big stones we have just discovered in the normal course of production are from the satellite pipe,' he remarked.

The run of good fortune began on January 21 when a flawless 76-carat stone was discovered. This was followed two days later by a 112-carat stone. On January 25 a 106-carat beauty turned up and a further 72-carat stone was recovered the following day, the statement said.

Lets'eng Diamond Mine was officially opened last year by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. The Mine is jointly owned by South African Johannesburg Consolidated Investment (JCI) Limited Company, Matodzi Resources and the Lesotho Government.

Lets'eng has so far produced three diamonds larger than 500 carats in the 50 years that the existence of diamonds has been known in the area.

In November 2003, the mine discovered a 215 carat diamond, a week later, the company discovered a 95 carat gem on its sorting table. A year later, a spectacular 123 carat flawless white diamond was discovered days before the official opening ceremony and sold for around M23 million.

01 February 2005